First and foremost…while there is such thing as freedom of speech, I don’t think there is any need to tell everyone every time we do something. I’ve known a few people who post an update to their status nearly minute by minute, and quite frankly, I don’t want to know when you use the toilet.

This is way more about personal opinion, I know. Some people think all the little updates are amusing. And I even have times where I post a lot of updates because I’m bored. (Like right now, sitting in the hospital…it’s tempting to post every time someone comes in my room to check on my baby, to check my oxygen, to draw blood….and you know that stuff happens like every 5 minutes or less!!) But, I find myself asking, “What is the point?” I really like to find a purpose in many of my status updates…whether it is personal and expresses gratitude, or something like a verse from the bible in hopes of encouraging someone else.

Quotes from kids can be great, and even updates about the things we are going through are good. But the biggest question I ask when I’m looking at a picture to share, or thinking of things to write is how does this reflect on what I believe? I say I don’t believe in male bashing, but if every other joke or picture I share is bashing males, am I supporting my own belief? And how do my posts reflect my faith? Am I a Christian on the Internet, or do I pretend like God doesn’t see/know about/care about the content I’m posting and sharing?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t necessarily believe that every single post has to be “preachy” or only scriptures, or anything like that. Just that, if I wouldn’t tell that joke to Jesus, or I wouldn’t stare at that picture with Him sitting here, then why is it on my wall? We cannot truly separate God from any area of our life, including social media. He knows, and sees, and is worthy of our praise, honor, and obedience even when we get online.

The next threat I’ve noticed is spousal bashing, and whining, and complaining, and social media nagging. First off, we all get our feelings hurt, and sometimes we need to talk about it to work through it, I know this for a fact. Social media is not, however, a healthy outlet for this. It is best to choose a mentor, someone who is pro-marriage, and will give you sound, Godly advice. Occasionally in life we are blessed with a friend that will give us this kind of advice, but most often, we must be intentional about finding this type of person.

By posting on social media when things aren’t going our way, we open ourselves up to the advice of many people, and not all of that advice is good or healthy. Plus, put yourself in the other person’s shoes (and maybe you’ve really experienced this…) how bad does it hurt for the person you love most dearly to ridicule or put you down publicly? Whether online-public, or amongst a group of friends out to dinner, that is humiliating and instead of repairing the hurt feelings in the relationship, it makes them worse.

Pick positive things to post. Yet, I think it’s important to keep it realistic. Did your hubby bring you home flowers? A short post that displays gratitude for his thoughtfulness is great, but there is no need for a short novel about it. I think it’s important to not only focus on the good things our partner does when we are online, but also when we are talking to our friends, as well. It’s an everyday, all day, and conscious choice to edify our spouses, kids and friends. When we stop doing that, and instead tear them down, we destroy them, we destroy ourselves, and we destroy other people that are affected by our actions and relationship.

Has anyone ever ridiculed you on social media? How did you respond?

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About Regina Walker

I am a Jesus-girl, wife, mom, writer, sister, daughter, baker, cook, maid, teacher, business partner, farmer, and more.
I am busy raising kids, and praying daily for them to be servants of Christ. I am the blessed wife of a very hard working man, together we own and operate our own business. We live on a small farm where we are learning more about sustainable living. We do our best to enjoy life, help others, and use the talents God gave us for His glory. Our goal is to teach our kids to do the same.
I welcome all emails - you can reach me at reginawalker86@gmail.com - feel free to email me anytime, just be patient in waiting for my response!

I really appreciate your post. i try to consider what I’m posting on Facebook carefully and am actually appalled by some of the things people say to each other on Facebook with the world watching. Mom needed support not the kids fighting with one another (especially not online).

I really, really like your post. I think people don’t think about what they share. I’m SOOO embarrassed by what I see people who should know better do online. A friend of mine recently took to Facebook to rant about how little his brother took care of their mom who was in a mental facility. My friend was taking care of all of her expenses, visiting her weekly and was doing everything for his mom while the brother, ashamed and embarrassed of his mom stayed away and did nothing. He (my friend) took to Facebook to vent, detailing everything, including the fact that his brother, had only given $200 to his mon’s care in the past 6 years. I felt so embarrassed to see how this was playing out. Yet the saddest thing was people were actually sharing it around and encouraging him to ‘vent’. Tsk, tsk tsk.

Wow, Carlana. That is a tragic misuse of FB – including, but not limited to, sharing information that poor Mom might not want shared. We all need support, and we all have frustrations, we just need to choose carefully who we vent to, and where. Thank you for commenting.

Fine post. At first, when I saw the title, I thought this would be all about Big Brother Social Media, watching everything we post. I was delighted (and somewhat convicted, I must admit) to see that your topic was more about watching our OWN posts.
Those “likes” and “shares” can add up to a characterization we may not intend.
Visiting from the Ultimate Blog Challenge. We’re on the home-stretch for April!

Angela Christina Archer

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